Tamil is written in a non-Latin script. Tamil text used in this article is transliterated into the Latin script according to the ISO 15919 standard.

Tamil Puthandu (Tamil: தமிழ்புத்தாண்டு), also known as Puthuvarusham or Tamil New Year, is the first day of year on the Tamil calendar.[3][1][4] The festival date is set with the solar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar, as the first day of the Tamil month Chithirai, it therefore almost always falls on or about 14 April every year on the Gregorian calendar.[1] The same day is observed by Hindus elsewhere as the traditional new year, but is known by other names such as Vishu in Kerala, and Vaisakhi in central and north India.[1]

On this day, Tamil people greet each other by saying "Puttāṇṭu vāḻttukkaḷ!" (புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்) or "Iṉiya puttāṇṭu nalvāḻttukkaḷ!" (இனிய புத்தாண்டு நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்), which is equivalent to "Happy new year".[5] The day is observed as a family time. Households clean up the house, prepare a tray with fruits, flowers and auspicious items, light up the family Puja altar and visit their local temples. People wear new clothes and youngster go to elders to pay respects and seek their blessings, then the family sits down to a vegetarian feast.[6]

There are several references in early Tamil literature to the April new year. Nakkirar, Sangam period author of the Neṭunalvāṭai, wrote in the third century CE that the sun travels from Mesha/Chitterai through 11 successive signs of the zodiac.[9] Kūdalūr Kizhaar in the third century CE refers to Mesha Raasi/Chitterai as the commencement of the year in the Puṟanāṉūṟu,[10][11] the Tolkaapiyam is the oldest surviving Tamil grammar that divides the year into six seasons where Chitterai marks the start of the Ilavenil season or summer. The 8th century Silappadikaaram mentions the 12 Raasis or zodiac signs starting with Mesha/Chitterai,[12] the Manimekalai alludes to the Hindu solar calendar as we know it today. Adiyarkunalaar, an early medieval commentator or Urai-asiriyar mentions the twelve months of the Tamil calendar with particular reference to Chitterai. There were subsequent inscriptional references in Pagan, Burma dated to the 11th century CE and in Sukhothai, Thailand dated to the 14th century CE to South Indian, often Vaishnavite, courtiers who were tasked with defining the traditional calendar that began in mid-April.[13]

Tamil people celebrate Puthandu, also called Puthuvarusham, as the traditional New Year,[4] this is the month of Chittirai, the first month of the Tamil solar calendar, and Puthandu typically falls on 14 April.[3] In some parts of Southern Tamil Nadu, the festival is called Chittirai Vishu, on the eve of Puthandu, a tray arranged with three fruits (mango, banana and jack fruit), betel leaves and arecanut, gold/silver jewellery, coins/money, flowers and a mirror.[14] This is similar to Vishu new year festival ceremonial tray in Kerala. According to the Tamil tradition, this festive tray is auspicious as the first sight upon waking on the new year day,[3] the home entrances are decorated elaborately with colored rice powder and these designs are called kolams.[15]

Tamil Hindus decorate their homes with various auspicious colorful geometric designs from rice powder called Kolam.[15]

Sri Lankan Tamils observe the traditional new year in April with the first financial transaction known as the 'Kai-vishesham' where youngsters go to elders paying their respect, and elders giving their blessings and gifting pocket money to them. The event is also observed with the 'arpudu' or the first ploughing of the ground to prepare for the new agricultural cycle, the game of 'por-thenkai' or coconut wars between youth is played in villages through the Tamil north and east of the island while cart races are also held.[16] The festive Puthandu season in April is a time for family visits and the renewal of filial bonds,[17] it coincides with the Sinhalese new year season.[18]

Two styles of mango-based pachadi dish, that combines many bitter-sour-sweet-pungent flavors to mark Puthandu.

Later in the day, families enjoy a feast.[14] A special dish called Mangai-pachadi is prepared from a variety of flavors, similar to pacchadi of new year foods of Ugadi and Vishu.[14][19] It is made from sweet jaggery, astringent mustard, sour raw mango, bitter neem, and red chilies, these complex dish is ritually tasted by Tamils, as similar multi-flavors are by Hindus elsewhere on the new year. Such traditional festive recipes, that combine different flavors, are a symbolic reminder that one must expect all flavors of experiences in the coming new year, that no event or episode is wholly sweet or bitter, experiences are transitory and ephemeral, and to make the most from them.[20]

In Malaysia and Singapore, Tamils join Sikhs, Malayalees and Bengalis to celebrate the traditional new year in mid-April with leaders across the political spectrum wishing the ethnic Indian community for the new year. Special religious events are held in Hindu temples, in Tamil community centers and Gurdwaras. Cultural programs and media events also take place, its a day of celebration for the Indian community.[21][22][23][24][25]

The previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Government of Tamil Nadu had declared in 2008 that the Tamil new year should be celebrated on the first day of Tamil month of Thai (14 January) coinciding with the harvest festival of Pongal, the Tamil Nadu New Year (Declaration Bill 2008) was enacted as the state law by the DMK assembly members and its Tamil Nadu Government on 29 January 2008.[26] This law of the DMK majority-led government was subsequently rescinded by a separate act of legislation in the Tamil Nadu Assembly with an AIADMK majority-led government on 23 August 2011.[27][28][29] Many in Tamil Nadu ignored the government legislation that rescheduled the festival date, and continued the celebration of their traditional Puthandu new year festival in mid-April,[30][31] the Governor and Chief Minister of the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry, which has an ethnic Tamil majority, felicitated the public for the Tamil new year in April 2010.[32]

The legislative reach to change the traditional religious new year by the DMK government was questioned by Hindu priests,[33] the law was met with resistance by Tamils in the state and elsewhere.[34][35][36] It was also challenged in court,[37][38] the then opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in Tamil Nadu subsequently condemned the decision of the DMK Government in that state and urged their supporters to continue celebrating the traditional date in mid-April.[39] Tamils in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and Canada continued to observe the new year in mid-April.[40][41][42][43][44]

The previous state government in Tamil Nadu in an effort to placate popular sentiment announced that the same day will be celebrated as a new festival renamed as “Chithirai Tirunal” (the festival of Chithirai), the day remained a public holiday in Tamil Nadu under the DMK government, but not as Tamil new year, but purportedly to commemorate Dr. B.R Ambedkar, who was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Indian Constitution. All television channels in Tamil Nadu continued to telecast festive “Chithirai Tirunal Special Programs” on 14 April 2010, the leader of the AIADMK, Jayalalitha refused to recognize the repackaged festival, and felicitated the Tamil people for the traditional Tamil New Year. The MDMK leader Vaiko, followed suit,[45] the controversy between the two dates subsided and the official celebrations during the traditional new year in April revived.[46][47][48][49]

The Puthandu new year day is celebrated elsewhere but called by other names, for example, it is called Vaisakhi by Hindus and Sikhs in north and central India, which too marks the solar new year.[50][51][8] Some examples include:

However, this is not the universal new year for all Hindus, for some, such as those in and near Gujarat, the new year festivities coincide with the five day Diwali festival. For others, the new year falls on Ugadi and Gudi Padwa, which falls a few weeks before Puthandu.[8]

The same day every year is also the new year in parts of southeast Asia such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, likely an influence of their shared culture in the 1st millennium CE.[8]

According to a 1957 publication by Gunasegaram, the new year celebrated in Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Champa (Vietnam) is the Tamil New Year with roots in the practices of Mohenjo-daro (Indus Valley Civilization).[52][53] According to Nanacuriyan, this may be from the medieval era Tamil influence in southeast Asia.[54]

According to Jean Michaud and other scholars, the new year celebration traditions in Southeast Asian Massif have two roots.[55] One is China, and this influence is found for example in Vietnam and southeastern China, these Sino-influenced communities celebrate the new year in the first or second lunar month after the winter solstice in December. The second group of people in the Massif celebrate the new year in mid April, much like most of India, this group consists of northeastern Indians, northeastern Myanmar, Tai speakers of Thailand, Laos, northern Vietnam and southern Yunnan.[55] The festival is celebrated in the Massif in some ways unlike Puthandu, it is marked by an occasion to visit family and friends, splashing others with water (like Holi), drinking alcohol, as well as later wearing jewelry, new clothes and socializing.[55] The new year festival is called regionally by different names:

1.
Tamils
–
Tamil people with a population of approximately 76 million living around the world are one of the largest and oldest of the existing ethno-linguistic cultural groups of people in the modern world. Tamils comprise 24. 87% of the population in Sri Lanka,5. 91% in India,10. 83% in Mauritius, 5% in Singapore, among languages spoken today, the Tamil language is the oldest written language. Between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century AD, Tamil people produced native literature that came to be called Sangam literature, Tamils were noted for their martial, religious and mercantile activities beyond their native borders. Pandyas and Cholas were historically active in Sri Lanka, the Chola dynasty successfully invaded parts of Southeast Asia like Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Indonesia. Medieval Tamil guilds and trading organizations like the Ayyavole and Manigramam played an important role in the Southeast Asia trade, Pallava traders and religious leaders travelled to Southeast Asia and played an important role in the cultural Indianisation of the region. Locally developed scripts such as Grantha and Pallava script induced the development of many scripts such as Khmer, Javanese Kawi script, Baybayin. Tamil visual art is dominated by stylised Temple architecture in major centres, Chola bronzes, especially the Nataraja sculpture of the Chola period, have become notable as a symbol of Hinduism. Tamil performing arts are divided into popular and classical, classical form is Bharatanatyam, whereas the popular forms are known as Koothu and performed in village temples and on street corners. Tamil cinema, known as Kollywood, is an important part of the Indian cinema industry, music too is divided into classical Carnatic form and many popular genres. Although most Tamils are Hindus, most practice what is considered to be folk Hinduism, a sizeable number are Christians and Muslims. A small Jain community survives from the period as well. Tamil cuisine is informed by varied vegetarian and non-vegetarian items usually spiced with locally available spices, the music, the temple architecture and the stylised sculptures favoured by the Tamil people as in their ancient nation are still being learnt and practised. It is unknown as to whether the term Thamizhar and its equivalents in Prakrit such as Damela, Dameda, the well-known Hathigumpha inscription of the Kalinga ruler Kharavela refers to a Tmira samghata dated to 150 BC. It also mentions that the league of Tamil kingdoms had been in existence 113 years before then, in Amaravati in present-day Andhra Pradesh there is an inscription referring to a Dhamila-vaniya datable to the 3rd century AD. Another inscription of about the time in Nagarjunakonda seems to refer to a Damila. A third inscription in Kanheri Caves refers to a Dhamila-gharini, in the Buddhist Jataka story known as Akiti Jataka there is a mention to Damila-rattha. There were trade relationship between the Roman Empire and Pandyan Empire, as recorded by Strabo, Emperor Augustus of Rome received at Antioch an ambassador from a king called Pandyan of Dramira. Hence, it is clear that by at least 300 BC, Thamizhar is etymologically related to Tamil, the language spoken by Tamil people

2.
India
–
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety

3.
Sri Lanka
–
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka

4.
Mauritius
–
Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometres off the southeast coast of the African continent. The country includes the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, and the outer islands, the islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues form part of the Mascarene Islands, along with nearby Réunion, a French overseas department. The area of the country is 2,040 km², the capital and largest city is Port Louis. Mauritius was a British colonial possession from 1810 to 1968, the year of its independence, the government uses English as the main language. The sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago is disputed between Mauritius and the United Kingdom, the UK excised the archipelago from Mauritian territory in 1965, three years prior to Mauritian independence. The UK gradually depopulated the archipelagos indigenous population and leased its biggest island, Diego Garcia, access to the archipelago is prohibited to casual tourists, the media, and its former inhabitants. Mauritius also claims sovereignty over Tromelin Island from France, the people of Mauritius are multiethnic, multi-religious, multicultural and multilingual. The islands government is modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system. Along with the other Mascarene Islands, Mauritius is known for its flora and fauna. The island is known as the only known home of the dodo. Mauritius is the country in Africa where Hinduism is the largest religion. The first historical evidence of the existence of an island now known as Mauritius is on a map produced by the Italian cartographer Alberto Cantino in 1502. From this, it appears that Mauritius was first named Dina Arobi around 975 by Arab sailors, in 1507 Portuguese sailors visited the uninhabited island. The island appears with a Portuguese name Cirne on early Portuguese maps, another Portuguese sailor, Dom Pedro Mascarenhas, gave the name Mascarenes to the Archipelago. In 1598 a Dutch squadron under Admiral Wybrand van Warwyck landed at Grand Port and named the island Mauritius, in honour of Prince Maurice van Nassau, later the island became a French colony and was renamed Isle de France. On 3 December 1810 the French surrendered the island to Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars, under British rule, the islands name reverted to Mauritius /məˈrɪʃəs/. Mauritius is also known as Maurice and Île Maurice in French. The island of Mauritius was uninhabited before its first recorded visit during the Middle Ages by Arab sailors, in 1507 Portuguese sailors came to the uninhabited island and established a visiting base

5.
Malaysia
–
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy located in Southeast Asia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government, with a population of over 30 million, Malaysia is the 44th most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai, is in Malaysia, located in the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries on earth, with large numbers of endemic species. Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, the first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946, Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a role in politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with minorities of Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indians. The constitution declares Islam the state religion while allowing freedom of religion for non-Muslims, the government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and he is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the prime minister, since its independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with its GDP growing at an average of 6. 5% per annum for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce. Today, Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, ranked third largest in Southeast Asia, the name Malaysia is a combination of the word Malay and the Latin-Greek suffix -sia/-σία. The word melayu in Malay may derive from the Tamil words malai and ur meaning mountain and city, land, malayadvipa was the word used by ancient Indian traders when referring to the Malay Peninsula. Whether or not it originated from these roots, the word melayu or mlayu may have used in early Malay/Javanese to mean to steadily accelerate or run. This term was applied to describe the current of the river Melayu in Sumatra. The name was adopted by the Melayu Kingdom that existed in the seventh century on Sumatra

6.
Canada
–
Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day

7.
Singapore
–
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, sometimes referred to as the Lion City or the Little Red Dot, is a sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree north of the equator, at the tip of peninsular Malaysia. Singapores territory consists of one island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its size by 23%. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan, after early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce. Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub, the country has also been identified as a tax haven. Singapore ranks 5th internationally and first in Asia on the UN Human Development Index and it is ranked highly in education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, and housing, but does not fare well on the Democracy index. Although income inequality is high, 90% of homes are owner-occupied, 38% of Singapores 5.6 million residents are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. There are four languages on the island, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil. English is its language, most Singaporeans are bilingual. Singapore is a multiparty parliamentary republic, with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The Peoples Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959, however, it is unlikely that lions ever lived on the island, Sang Nila Utama, the Srivijayan prince said to have founded and named the island Singapura, perhaps saw a Malayan tiger. There are however other suggestions for the origin of the name, the central island has also been called Pulau Ujong as far back as the third century CE, literally island at the end in Malay. In 1299, according to the Malay Annals, the Kingdom of Singapura was founded on the island by Sang Nila Utama and these Indianized Kingdoms, a term coined by George Cœdès were characterized by surprising resilience, political integrity and administrative stability. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, which by then was part of the Johor Sultanate. The wider maritime region and much trade was under Dutch control for the following period, in 1824 the entire island, as well as the Temenggong, became a British possession after a further treaty with the Sultan. In 1826, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements, under the jurisdiction of British India, prior to Raffles arrival, there were only about a thousand people living on the island, mostly indigenous Malays along with a handful of Chinese. By 1860 the population had swelled to over 80,000, many of these early immigrants came to work on the pepper and gambier plantations

8.
Tamil calendar
–
The Tamil calendar is a sidereal Hindu calendar used in Tamil Nadu, India. It is also used in Puducherry, and by the Tamil population in Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Tamil Nadu farmers greatly refer to this. It is used today for cultural, religious and agricultural events, the Tamil calendar is based on the classical Hindu lunisolar calendar also used in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Nepal, Odisha, Rajasthan and Punjab. There are several festivals based on the Tamil Hindu calendar, the Tamil New Year follows the nirayanam vernal equinox and generally falls on 14 April of the Gregorian year. 14 April marks the first day of the traditional Tamil calendar, tropical vernal equinox fall around 22 March, and adding 23 degrees of trepidation or oscillation to it, we get the Hindu sidereal or Nirayana Mesha Sankranti. Hence, the Tamil calendar begins on the date in April which is observed by most traditional calendars of the rest of India - Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Manipur. This also coincides with the new year in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Nepal. The traditional Tamil year starts on 14 April 2017, Kaliyuga 5119, vikrama and Shalivahana Saka eras are also used. There are several references in early Tamil literature to the April new year, nakkirar, the author of the Nedunalvaadai writes in the 3rd century that the Sun travels from Mesha/Chitterai through 11 successive Raasis or signs of the zodiac. Kūdalūr Kizhaar in the 3rd century refers to Mesha Raasi/Chitterai as the commencement of the year in the Puranaanooru, the Tolkaapiyam is the oldest surviving Tamil grammar that divides the year into six seasons where Chitterai marks the start of the Ilavenil season or summer. The 8th century Silappadikaaram mentions the 12 Raasis or zodiac signs starting with Mesha/Chitterai, the Manimekalai alludes to the Hindu solar calendar as we know it today. Adiyaarkunalaar, an early medieval commentator or Urai-asiriyar, mentions the 12 months of the Tamil Hindu calendar with particular reference to Chitterai. The days of the Tamil calendar relate to the bodies in the solar system, Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus. This list compiles the days of the week in the Tamil calendar, For Tamils, the number of days in a month varies between 29 and 32. The following list compiles the months of the Tamil Calendar and its earliest reference is to be found in Surya Siddhanta, which Varahamihirar believed to be the most accurate of the then current theories of astronomy. However, in the Surya Siddhantic list, the first year was Vijaya, there are some parallels in this sexagenary cycle with the Chinese calendar. The Surya Siddhanta and other Indian classical texts on astronomy had some influence on the Chinese calendar although it merits attention that the cycle in China is itself very old. After the completion of sixty years, the calendar starts a new with the first year and this corresponds to the Hindu century

9.
Vaisakhi
–
Vaisakhi, also known as Baisakhi, Vaishakhi, or Vasakhi is a historical and religious festival in Sikhism. It is usually celebrated on April 13 or 14 every year, Vaisakhi marks the Sikh new year and commemorates the formation of Khalsa panth of warriors under Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. It is additionally a spring harvest festival for the Sikhs, Vaisakhi is an ancient festival of Hindus, marking the Solar New Year and also celebrating the spring harvest. It marks the sacredness of rivers in Hindu culture, it is known by many names. Vaisakhi observes major events in the history of Sikhism and the Indian subcontinent that happened in the Punjab region and this triggered the coronation of the tenth Guru of Sikhism and the historic formation of Khalsa, both on the Vaisakhi day. Vaisakhi was also the day when colonial British empire officials committed the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on a gathering and this festival in Hinduism is known by various regional names. Vaisakhi is traditionally observed on 13 or 14 April, every year, the festival is important to both Sikhs and Hindus. Vaisakhi is one of the three Hindu festivals chosen by Guru Amar Das to be celebrated by Sikhs, the Gurus martyrdom triggered the coronation of the tenth and last Guru of Sikhism, and the formation of the sant-sipahi group of Khalsa, both on the Vaisakhi day. This gave rise to the Vaisakhi or Baisakhi festival being observed as a celebration of Khalsa panth formation and is known as Khalsa Sirjana Divas. The festival is celebrated on Vaisakhi day, since 1699, the Birth of the Khalsa Panth was either on 13 April 1699 or 30 March 1699. Since 2003, the Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee named it Baisakh, a special celebration takes place at Talwandi Sabo, in the Gurudwara at Anandpur Sahib the birthplace of the Khalsa, and at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Vaisakhi has been the traditional Sikh New Year, according to the Khalsa sambat, the Khalsa calendar starts from the day of the creation of the Khalsa-1 Vaisakh 1756 Bikrami. It is observed throughout the Punjab region, Sikhs communities organise processions called nagar kirtan. These are led by five khalsa who are dressed up as Panj Pyaras, the people who march sing, make music, chant hymns from the Sikh texts. Major processions also carry a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib in reverence, Vaisakhi is a harvest festival for people of the Punjab region. In the Punjab, Vaisakhi marks the ripening of the rabi harvest, Vaisakhi also marks the Punjabi new year. This day is observed as a day by farmers whereby farmers pay their tribute, thanking God for the abundant harvest. The harvest festival is celebrated by Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus, historically, during the early 20th century, Vaisakhi was a sacred day for Sikhs and Hindus and a secular festival for all Muslims and non-Muslims including Punjabi Christians

10.
Vishu
–
Vishu is the Hindu new year festival celebrated in the Indian state of Kerala and nearby Tulunadu region of Karnataka. The festival follows the cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar as the first day of month called Medam. It therefore always falls in the middle of April in the Gregorian calendar on or about 14 April every year, the same day, many Hindus elsewhere observe new year as well but the festival is called Vaisakhi or other names. Vishu literally means equal, and in the context it connotes the completion of spring equinox. The festival is notable for its solemnity and the lack of pomp. The festival is marked by family time, preparing colorful auspicious items, in particular, Malayali Hindus seek to view the golden blossoms of the Indian laburnum, money or silver items, and rice. The day also attracts firework play by children, wearing new clothes and the eating a meal called Sadya. The Vishu arrangement typically includes an image of Vishnu, typically as Krishna, people also visit temples like Sabarimala Ayyappan Temple or Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple to have a Vishukkani Kazhcha in the early hours of the day. The day of Vishu is often considered as the first day of the Malayali Hindu calendar, Vishu signifies the suns transit into the Meda Raasi. The Malayalam word kani literally means that which is seen first, the traditional belief is that ones future is a function of what one experiences, that the new year will be better if one views auspicious joyful things as the first thing on Vishu. Therefore Malayali Hindu women spend the day before preparing a setting, usually a tray and this setting is the first thing they see when they wake up on the Vishu day. She then releases the blindfold so one can see the setting, the Sadhya is a major part of all Kerala festivals. However, special dishes called Vishu Kanji, Thoran and Vishu katta are more important on the new year day, the Kanji is made of rice, coconut milk and spices. Vishu katta is a delicacy prepared from freshly harvested rice powder, for Thoran, the side dish, there are also mandatory ingredients. Other important Vishu delicacies include Veppampoorasam and Mampazhappulissery Even temple offerings called bewu bella, include a mix of sweet jaggery, bitter neem, the tradition of buying of new clothes for the occasion of Vishu is called Puthukodi or Vishukodi. There is also a tradition of elders giving money to younger ones or dependents of the family. Another tradition is of giving alms and contributing to community charity, the Vishu new year day is celebrated elsewhere but called by other names. It is called Vaisakhi by Hindus and Sikhs in north and central India, however, this is not the universal new year for all Hindus

11.
Thingyan
–
Thingyan is the Burmese New Year Festival and usually falls around mid-April. It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days, the dates of the Thingyan Festival are calculated according to the Burmese calendar. The dates of the festival are observed as public holidays throughout Myanmar, Thingyan is comparable to other festivities in the region such as the Songkran in Laos, the Songkran in Thailand, the Cambodian New Year, and the Sinhalese New Year. Thingyan is originated from the Buddhist version of a Hindu myth, the King of Brahmas called Arsi, lost a wager to the King of Devas, Śakra, who decapitated Arsi as agreed but the head of an elephant was put onto the Brahmas body who then became Ganesha. The Brahma was so powerful if the head were thrown into the sea it would dry up immediately. If it were thrown onto land it would be scorched, if it were thrown up into the air the sky would burst into flames. Sakra therefore ordained that the Brahmas head be carried by one princess devi after another taking turns for a year each, the new year henceforth has come to signify the changing of hands of the Brahmas head. The eve of Thingyan, the first day of the festival called a-kyo nei, is the start of a variety of religious activities, buddhists are expected to observe the Eight Precepts, more than the basic Five Precepts, including having only one meal before noon. Thingyan is a time when uposatha observance days, similar to the Christian sabbath, are held, in ancient times, Burmese kings had a hair-washing ceremony with clear pristine water from Gaungsay Kyun, a small rocky outcrop of an island in the Gulf of Martaban near Mawlamyine. By nightfall, the fun begins with music, song and dance, merrymaking. In every neighbourhood pavilions or stages, with names and made from bamboo, wood. They wear fragrant thanaka - a paste of the bark of Murraya paniculata which acts as both sunblock and astringent - on their faces, and sweet-scented yellow padauk blossoms in their hair. Padauk blooms only one day each year during Thingyan and is known as the Thingyan flower. It is indeed a time for letting go, a safety valve for stress. Generally however friendliness and goodwill prevail along with some boisterous jollity, the next day called a-kya nei is when Thingyan truly arrives as Thagyamin makes his descent from his celestial abode to earth. At a given signal, a cannon is fired and people out with pots of water and sprigs of thabyay. A prophecy for the new year will have been announced by the brahmins, children will be told that if they have been good Thagya Min will take their names down in a golden book but if they have been naughty their names will go into a dog book. Serious water throwing does not begin until a-kya nei in most of the country there are exceptions to the rule

12.
Cambodian New Year
–
Cambodian New Year or Choul Chnam Thmey in the Khmer language, literally Enter New Year, is the name of the Cambodian holiday that celebrates the traditional Lunar New Year. Khmers living abroad may choose to celebrate during a rather than just specifically April 13th through 16th. The Khmer New Year coincides with the solar new year in several parts of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar. Cambodians also use Buddhist Era to count the year based on the Buddhist calendar, Maha Sangkran, derived from Sanskrit Maha Sangkranta, is the name of the first day of the new year celebration. It is the end of the year and the beginning of a new one, for good luck people wash their face with holy water in the morning, their chests at noon, and their feet in the evening before they go to bed. Vireak Vanabat is the name of the day of the new year celebration. People contribute charity to the less fortunate by helping the poor, servants, homeless, families attend a dedication ceremony to their ancestors at monasteries. Tngai Loeng Sak in Khmer is the name of the day of the new year celebration. Buddhists wash the Buddha statues and their elders with perfumed water, bathing the Buddha images is a symbolic practice to wash bad actions away like water clean dirt from household items. It is also thought to be a deed that will bring longevity, good luck, happiness. By washing their grandparents and parents, the children can obtain from them best wishes, in temples, people erect a sand hillock on temple grounds. They mound up a big pointed hill of sand or dome in the center which represents Valuka Chaitya, the big stupa is surrounded by four small ones, which represent the stupas of the Buddhas favorite disciples, Sariputta, Moggallana, Ananda, and Maha Kassapa. There is another tradition called Sraung Preah, pouring water or liquid plaster on elder relative, the Khmer New Year is also a time to prepare special dishes. One of these is a kralan, a made from steamed rice mixed with beans or peas. The mixture is stuffed inside a bamboo stick and slowly roasted, Cambodia is home to a variety of games played to transform the dull days into memorable occasions. These games are similar to those played in Manipur, a state in India. Throughout the Khmer New Year, street corners often are crowded with friends and families enjoying a break from routine, filling their time with dancing. Typically, Khmer games help maintain ones mental and physical dexterity, chol Chhoung A game played especially on the first nightfall of the Khmer New Year by two groups of boys and girls

13.
Songkran (Lao)
–
Lao New Year, called Songkran or Pii Mai, is celebrated every year from April 13/14 to April 15/16. Lao New Year is a popular English name for a celebration known in Laos as Pi Mai. Lao New Year is the most widely celebrated festival in Laos, the festival is also celebrated by the Lao in the United States of America, Canada, France, England and Australia. Lao New Year takes place in April, the hottest time of the year in Laos, Lao New Year or Songkran takes place at roughly the same time as the new year celebrations of many countries in South Asia like India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. The official festival lasts for three days from April 14 to April 16, the first day is the last day of the old year. Houses and villages are properly cleaned on the first day, perfume, water and flowers are also prepared for the Lao New Year. The second day of the festival is the day of no day, the last day of the festival marks the start of the new year. Water is used for washing homes, Buddha images, monks, students first respectfully pour water on their elders, then monks for blessings of long life and peace, and last of all they throw water at each other. The water is perfumed with flowers or natural perfumes, some people prefer flowers in the water to give a pleasant smell, as well as adding cologne/perfume. Over the years another tradition has developed with Lao New Year, sand is brought to the temple grounds and is made into stupas or mounds, then decorated before being given to the monks as a way of making merit. There are two ways to make the sand stupas, one way is to go to the beach, and the other way is to bring sand to the vat, or temple. Sand stupas are decorated with flags, flowers, white lines, sand stupas symbolize the mountain, Phoukhao Kailat, where King Kabinlaphrôms head was kept by his seven daughters. Another way to make merit at this time is to set animals free, the Lao believe that even animals need to be free. The most commonly freed animals are tortoises, fish, crabs, birds, eels, flowers are gathered to decorate Buddha images. In the afternoons people collect fresh flowers, senior monks take the younger monks to a garden filled with flowers, where they pick flowers and bring back to the wat to wash. People who didnt participate in the flower picking bring baskets to wash the flowers so the flowers can shine with the Buddha statues, in the evening lao people usually go to the temple to worship the Buddhas. There is a beauty pageant in Luang Prabang to crown Miss Pimai Lao. There are many beauty pageants in Laos, but Luang Prabang - the old capital - is widely known for its Nangsangkhan pageant, there are seven contestants, each one symbolizing one of King Kabinlaphrôms seven daughters

14.
Pana Sankranti
–
Pana Sankranti, also known as Maha Vishuba Sankranti or Mahabisuha Sankranti, is the traditional new year day festival of Hindus in Odisha, India. The festival date is set with the cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar. This is identical to the system of lunar month Baisakh. It therefore almost always falls on 14 April every year on the Gregorian calendar, the festival is celebrated with visits to Shiva, Shakti, or Hanuman temples, as the day is considered to be the birthday of Hanuman. People take baths in rivers or major pilgrimage centers, communities participate in mela, watch street dance or acrobatic performances. A notable climax of the celebrations is fire-walk, where volunteers sprint over a bed of burning coal while being cheered with music. Feasts and special drinks such as a chilled sweet mango-milk-yoghurt-coconut drink called Pana is shared, Pana Sankranti is similar to New Year festivals observed by Hindus elsewhere such as Vaisakhi, Bihu, Pohela Boishakh, Vishu and Puthandu. In the Odia tradition, the Pana Sankranti is believed to be the birthday of the Hindu deity Hanuman and his temples, along with those of Shiva and Surya are revered on the new year. Hindus also visit Devi temples on Pana Sankranti, the temples include Taratarini Temple near Brahmapur, Odisha in Ganjam, Cuttack Chandi, Biraja Temple, Samaleswari temple and Sarala Temple. At Sarala Temple the priests walk on hot coals in the fire-walking festival, at the Maa Patana Mangala Temple in Chhatrapada, Bhadrak, the Patua Yatra festival is held from 14 April to 21 April. In Northern Odisha, the festival is known as Chadak Parva, in Southern Odisha, the Meru Yatra festival is celebrated as the end of the month-long Danda nata dance festival. Thousands of devotees gather at the Shakti Pitha shrine in the Taratarini Temple because it is one of the days during the Chaitra Yatra. People from all over the state eat festive chhatua and drink Bel Pana to mark the occasion, the Odia families in the city gather at their community hall in Kukdey Layout during these celebrations. Danda nata or Danda Jatra is a way of welcoming the New Year which begins with the month of Vaishakh. Danda Jatra is one of the most ancient forms of art in the state. The opening ritual begins in the middle of Chaitra, Danda Nacha is dedicated to Goddess Kali, and is a group spiritual event which invokes the blessings of Goddess Kali and Lord Shiva. The Maha Vishuva Sankranti new year day is celebrated elsewhere but called by other names and it is called Vaisakhi by Hindus and Sikhs in north and central India, which too marks the solar new year. Songkran in Thailand Chol Chnam Thmey in Cambodia Songkan / Pi Mai Lao in Laos Thingyan in Burma However, for some, such as those in and near Gujarat, the new year festivities coincide with the five day Diwali festival

15.
Songkran (Thailand)
–
Songkran is the Thai New Years festival. The Thai New Years Day is 13 April every year, the word Songkran comes from the Sanskrit word saṃkrānti, literally astrological passage, meaning transformation or change. The term was borrowed from Makar Sankranti, the name of a Hindu harvest festival celebrated in India in January to mark the arrival of spring and it coincides with the rising of Aries on the astrological chart, the New Year of many calendars of South and Southeast Asia. The festive occasion is in keeping with the Buddhist/Hindu solar calendar, the Songkran celebration is rich with symbolic traditions. Visiting local temples and offering food to the Buddhist monks is commonly practiced, on this specific occasion, performing water pouring on Buddha statues is considered an iconic ritual for this holiday. It represents purification and the washing away of sins and bad luck. As a festival of unity, people who have moved away usually return home to their loved ones, as a way to show respect, younger people often practice water pouring over the palms of elders hands. Paying reverence to ancestors is also an important part of Songkran tradition, the holiday is known for its water festival which is mostly celebrated by young people. Major streets are closed for traffic, and are used as arenas for water fights, celebrants, young and old, participate in this tradition by splashing water on each other. Traditional parades are held and in some venues Miss Songkran is crowned. ”Where contestants are clothed in traditional Thai dress, central Region People in this region clean their houses when Songkran approaches. All dress up in colorful clothing, after offering food to the monks, the people will offer a requiem to their ancestors. People make merit such offerings as giving sand to the temple for construction or repair, other forms of merit include releasing birds and fish. Nowadays, people also release other kinds of such as buffaloes. South Southerners have three Songkran rules, Work as little as possible and avoid spending money, not hurt other persons or animals, north In the northern region of Thailand 13 April is celebrated with gunfire or firecrackers to repel bad luck. On the next day, people prepare food and useful things to offer to the monks at the temple, People have to go to temple to make merit and bathe Buddhas statue and after that they pour water on the hands of elders and ask for their blessings. East The eastern region has similar to the other part of Thailand. Some people, after making merit at the temple, prepare food to be given to the members of their family. Songkran is celebrated by the Malaysian Siamese community in the states of Kedah, Kelantan, Penang, Perak, Perlis, the Sangken festival is celebrated by the people of the Khampti tribe

16.
Tamil language
–
Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and also by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan Moors, Burghers, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is a language of two countries, Singapore and Sri Lanka. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and it is also used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and it is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. Tamil is one of the classical languages in the world. Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions from 500 BC have been found on Adichanallur and 2 and it has been described as the only language of contemporary India which is recognizably continuous with a classical past. The variety and quality of classical Tamil literature has led to it being described as one of the classical traditions. A recorded Tamil literature has been documented for over 2000 years, the earliest period of Tamil literature, Sangam literature, is dated from ca.300 BC – AD300. It has the oldest extant literature among other Dravidian languages, the earliest epigraphic records found on rock edicts and hero stones date from around the 3rd century BC. More than 55% of the inscriptions found by the Archaeological Survey of India are in the Tamil language. Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Sri Lanka, the two earliest manuscripts from India, acknowledged and registered by the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 and 2005, were written in Tamil. In 1578, Portuguese Christian missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script named Thambiraan Vanakkam, the Tamil Lexicon, published by the University of Madras, was one of the earliest dictionaries published in the Indian languages. According to a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages, a family of around 26 languages native to the Indian subcontinent. It is also classified as being part of a Tamil language family, the closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam, the two began diverging around the 9th century CE. According to linguists like Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, Tamil, as a Dravidian language, descends from Proto-Dravidian, linguistic reconstruction suggests that Proto-Dravidian was spoken around the third millennium BC, possibly in the region around the lower Godavari river basin in peninsular India. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of the associated with the Neolithic complexes of South India. The next phase in the reconstructed proto-history of Tamil is Proto-South Dravidian, the linguistic evidence suggests that Proto-South Dravidian was spoken around the middle of the second millennium BC, and that proto-Tamil emerged around the 3rd century BC. The earliest epigraphic attestations of Tamil are generally taken to have been shortly thereafter

17.
Hindu calendar
–
Hindu calendar is a collective term for the various lunisolar calendars traditionally used in Hinduism. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping, but differ in their emphasis to moon cycle or the sun cycle, the names of months. A Hindu calendar is referred to as Panchanga. The ancient Hindu calendar is similar in design to the Jewish calendar. Early Buddhist communities of India adopted the ancient Indian calendar, later Vikrami calendar, Buddhist festivals continue to be scheduled according to a lunar system. The Buddhist calendar and the traditional calendars of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka. Similarly, the ancient Jainism traditions have followed the lunisolar system as the Hindu calendar for festivals, texts. However, the Buddhist and Jaina timekeeping systems have attempted to use the Buddha, the Hindu calendar is also important to the practice of Hindu astrology and zodiac system, most of which it adopted from Greece, in centuries after the arrival of Alexander the Great. The Indian national calendar or Saka calendar was introduced in 1952 based on the traditional Hindu calendars and this study was one of the six ancient Vedangas, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism. The ancient Indian culture developed a time keeping methodology and calendars for Vedic rituals. David Pingree has proposed that the field of timekeeping in Jyotisha may have derived from Mesopotamia during the Achaemenid period. Ohashi states that this Vedanga field developed from actual astronomical studies in ancient India, timekeeping as well as the nature of solar and moon movements are mentioned in Vedic texts. For example, Kaushitaki Brahmana chapter 19.3 mentions the shift in the location of the sun towards north for 6 months. The Vikrami calendar is named after king Vikramaditya and starts in 57 BCE, Hindu scholars attempted to keep time by observing and calculating the cycles of sun, moon and the planets. These texts present Surya and various planets and estimate the characteristics of the respective planetary motion, other texts such as Surya Siddhanta dated to have been complete sometime between the 5th century and 10th century present their chapters on various planets with deity mythologies. The manuscripts of texts exist in slightly different versions, present Surya- and planets-based calculation. These vary in their data, suggesting that the text were open and they tracked the solar year by observing the entrance and departure of surya in the constellation formed by stars in the sky, which they divided into 12 intervals of 30 degrees each. Like other ancient human cultures, Hindus innovated a number of systems of which intercalary months became most used, as their calendar keeping and astronomical observations became more sophisticated, the Hindu calendar became more sophisticated with complex rules and greater accuracy

18.
Gregorian calendar
–
The Gregorian calendar is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582, the calendar was a refinement to the Julian calendar involving a 0. 002% correction in the length of the year. The motivation for the reform was to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes and solstices—particularly the northern vernal equinox, transition to the Gregorian calendar would restore the holiday to the time of the year in which it was celebrated when introduced by the early Church. The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe, the last European country to adopt the reform was Greece, in 1923. Many countries that have used the Islamic and other religious calendars have come to adopt this calendar for civil purposes. The reform was a modification of a made by Aloysius Lilius. His proposal included reducing the number of years in four centuries from 100 to 97. Lilius also produced an original and practical scheme for adjusting the epacts of the moon when calculating the date of Easter. For example, the years 1700,1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 are. The canonical Easter tables were devised at the end of the third century, when the vernal equinox fell either on 20 March or 21 March depending on the years position in the leap year cycle. As the rule was that the full moon preceding Easter was not to precede the equinox, the date was fixed at 21 March for computational purposes, the Gregorian calendar reproduced these conditions by removing ten days. To unambiguously specify a date, dual dating or Old Style, dual dating gives two consecutive years for a given date, because of differences in the starting date of the year, and/or to give both the Julian and the Gregorian dates. The Gregorian calendar continued to use the calendar era, which counts years from the traditional date of the nativity. This year-numbering system, also known as Dionysian era or Common Era, is the predominant international standard today, the Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. A regular Gregorian year consists of 365 days, but as in the Julian calendar, in a leap year, in the Julian calendar a leap year occurs every 4 years, but the Gregorian calendar omits 3 leap days every 400 years. In the Julian calendar, this day was inserted by doubling 24 February. In the modern period, it has become customary to number the days from the beginning of the month, some churches, notably the Roman Catholic Church, delay February festivals after the 23rd by one day in leap years. Gregorian years are identified by consecutive year numbers, the cycles repeat completely every 146,097 days, which equals 400 years

19.
Puja (Hinduism)
–
Pūjā or Poojan is a prayer ritual performed by Hindus to host, honour and worship one or more deities, or to spiritually celebrate an event. Sometimes spelt phonetically as pooja or poojah, it may honour or celebrate the presence of special guest, the word pūjā comes from Sanskrit, and means reverence, honour, homage, adoration, and worship. Puja rituals are held by Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. In Hinduism, puja is done on a variety of occasions, frequency and settings. It may include daily puja done in the home, to temple ceremonies and annual festivals, to few lifetime events such as birth of a baby or a wedding. The two main areas where puja is performed are in the home and at temples to mark certain stages of life, events or some such as Durga Puja. Puja is not mandatory, it may be a daily affair for some Hindus, periodic ritual for some. In some temples, various pujas may be performed daily at various times of the day, in other temples, Puja varies according to the school of Hinduism. Puja may vary by region, occasion, deity honored, in formal Nigama ceremonies, a fire may be lit in honour of deity Agni, without an idol or image present. In contrast, in Agama ceremonies, an idol or image of deity is present, in both ceremonies, a diya or incense stick may be lit while a prayer is chanted or hymn is sung. Puja is typically performed by a Hindu worshipper alone, though sometimes in presence of a priest who is well versed in procedure, both Nigama and Agama puja are practiced in Hinduism in India. In Hinduism of Bali Indonesia, Agama puja is most prevalent both inside homes and in temples, Puja is sometimes called Sembahyang in Indonesia. Puja is an ancient culture or way of life, with unclear origins, joshi claims the word puja was first used in vedic times when Sūtra were composed, to describe prayers and worship before yajna or homa – fire deity, Agni. Charpentier suggests the origin of the word Puja may lie in the Dravidian languages, two possible Tamil roots have been suggested, Poosai to smear with something and Poochei to do with flowers. According to scholars, one of the earliest mentions of pūjā is in the Grihya Sutras and these Sutras, dated to be about 500 BC, use the term puja to describe the hospitality to honor priests who were invited to one’s home to lead rituals for departed ancestors. As Hindu philosophy expanded and diversified, with such as the bhakti movement. As with vedic times, the concept of puja remained the same. The Puranic corpus of literature, dating from about 6th century CE, deity puja thus melds Vedic rites with devotion to deity in its ritual form

20.
Tamil Nadu
–
Tamil Nadu is one of the 29 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai, Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Puducherry and the South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. The state shares a border with the nation of Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadu is the eleventh-largest state in India by area and the sixth-most populous, the state was ranked sixth among states in India according to the Human Development Index in 2011, with the second-largest state economy after Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu is the second largest state economy in India with ₹13,842 billion in gross domestic product after Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu was ranked as one of the top seven developed states in India based on a Multidimensional Development Index in a 2013 report published by the Reserve Bank of India and its official language is Tamil, which is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world. Tamil Nadu is home to natural resources. In addition, its people have developed and continue classical arts, classical music, historic buildings and religious sites include Hindu temples of Tamil architecture, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites, and eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Archaeological evidence points to this area being one of the longest continuous habitations in the Indian peninsula, the ASI archaeologists have proposed that the script used at that site is very rudimentary Tamil Brahmi. Adichanallur has been announced as a site for further excavation. About 60 per cent of the epigraphical inscriptions found by the ASI in India are from Tamil Nadu. A Neolithic stone celt with the Indus script on it was discovered at Sembian-Kandiyur near Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu, according to epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan, this was the first datable artefact bearing the Indus script to be found in Tamil Nadu. Mahadevan claimed that the find was evidence of the use of the Harappan language, the date of the celt was estimated at between 1500 BCE and 2000 BCE. The early history of the people and rulers of Tamil Nadu is a topic in Tamil literary sources known as Sangam literature, numismatic, archaeological and literary sources corroborate that the Sangam period lasted for about six centuries, from 300 BC to AD300. Three dynasties, namely the Chera, Chola and Pandya, ruled the area of present-day Tamil Nadu, the Chera ruled the whole of present-day Kerala and parts of western Tamil Nadu comprising Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Karur, Salem and Erode districts from the capital of Vanchi Muthur. The Chola dynasty ruled the northern and central parts of Tamil Nadu from their capital, Uraiyur, All three dynasties had extensive trade relationships with Rome, Greece, Egypt, Ceylon, Phoenicia, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia. Trade flourished in commodities such as spices, ivory, pearls, beads, Chera traded extensively from Muziris on the west coast, Chola from Arikamedu and Puhar and Pandya through Korkai port. A Greco-Roman trade and travel document, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea gives a description of the Tamil country, besides these three dynasties, the Sangam era Tamilakam was also divided into various provinces named nadu, meaning country

21.
Puducherry
–
Puducherry, formerly known as Pondicherry, is a union territory of India. It was formed out of four exclaves of former French India, namely Pondichéry, Karikal, Mahé and it is named after the largest district, Puducherry. Historically known as Pondicherry, the changed its official name to Puducherry on 20 September 2006. Puducherry lies in the part of the Indian Peninsula. Puducherry is the 29th most populous and the third most densely populated territory in India. It has a GDP of ₹0.21 lakh crore and ranks 27th in India, the earliest recorded history of Puducherry can be traced to the 2nd century CE. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentions a marketplace named Poduke, huntingford suggested this might be a site about 2 miles from the modern Puducherry, which was possibly the location of Arikamedu. Huntingford noted that Roman pottery was found at Arikamedu in 1937, in addition, archaeological excavations between 1944 and 1949 showed that it was a trading station to which goods of Roman manufacture were imported during the first half of the 1st century CE. In 1674, Pondicherry became a French colony of the French colonial empire, the union territory of Puducherry consists of four small unconnected districts, Puducherry district, Karaikal district and Yanam district on the Bay of Bengal and Mahé district on the Arabian Sea. Puducherry and Karaikal have the largest areas and population, and are both enclaves of Tamil Nadu, Yanam and Mahé are enclaves of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively. Some of Puducherrys districts are themselves amalgamations of non-contiguous enclaves, often called pockets in India, the Puducherry district is made of 11 such pockets, some of which are very small and entirely surrounded by the territory of Tamil Nadu. Mahé district is made up of three pockets and this unusual geography is a legacy of the colonial period with Puducherry retaining the borders of former French India. All four districts of Puducherry are located in the coastal region, five rivers in Puducherry district, seven in Karaikal district, two in Mahé district and one in Yanam district drain into the sea, but none originates within the territory. Other religions include Christianity and Islam, Puducherry is a Union Territory of India rather than a state, which implies that governance and administration falls directly under federal authority. The Centre is represented by the Lieutenant Governor, who resides at the Raj Nivas at the Park, the central government is more directly involved in the territorys financial well-being unlike states, which have a central grant that they administer. Consequently, Puducherry has at times, enjoyed lower taxes. According to the Treaty of Cession of 1956, the four territories of former French India territorial administration are permitted to make laws with respect to specific matters, in many cases, such legislation may require ratification from the federal government or the assent of the President of India. Article II of the Treaty states, The Establishments will keep the benefit of the administrative status which was in force prior to 1 November 1954

22.
Tamil diaspora
–
The Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil immigrants who emigrated from their native lands to other parts of the world. They found primarily in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Réunion, Mauritius, Europe, North America, many of Tamil emigrants who left shores of Tamil Nadu before 18th Century and mixed with countless other ethnicities. Some are descended from immigrants from land of Arabia, though it is not known which part of the Arab world they are from, in the 19th century, Madras Presidency faced brutal famines. Tamil Nadu was both politically and economically weak, britishers thus made use of hungry Tamil workers for their plantations all over the world - Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Mauritius, South Africa, Fiji and also Sri Lanka. Some of the Tamil groups emigrated as commercial migrants and these groups then dominated the trade and finance in Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, South Africa and other places. The first Indian to own a merchant ship during the British times comes from this group and these Tamilians well integrated, assimilated with their adopted countries, and became part and parcel of local populations in Mauritius, South Africa, Guyana, and Fiji. Many also left to work in the possessions of the French Empire via its holdings in Pondichéry in Réunion, a small group was hired by the Dutch colonial government in Dutch East Indies to work in Sumatra. Roughly about 40,000 descendants of immigrants are still found in Medan. Many independent Tamil merchant guilds such as the Nagarathar also left for areas in an age old tradition of their ancestors who had traded in these areas for the last 2,000 years. Britain also hired many Sri Lankan Tamils as clerical and other white collar workers, especially in Malaysia, all these different streams have combined to create vibrant Tamil communities in these countries. Also many Tamils from India and Sri Lanka migrated to Crown colony of Singapore and British Malaya as labours, army clerks, during and after the devastating WW2 a large number of Tamils and other Indians from Burma fled to India- to Manipur, and Tamil Nadu. They established Burmese refugee colonies that still exist today and maintain an identity as Burmese returnees, many were repatriated to the Nilgiris regions tea estates. They too maintain an identity as Ceylon returnees in Tamil Nadu. There is also a movement of native Sri Lankan Tamils to India, some migrated to do white-collar jobs during the British days, although relatively recent in origin, this subgroup had well-established communities in these host countries prior to the 1983 pogroms. A more recent Sri Lankan Tamil community has developed rapidly in the United States, with reference to Mainland Africa, There is a significant amount of Tamils in Africa, Especially Kenya. Kenya holds at least 30% of the Tamilians in the Country followed by Uganda, most of these people are Migrants while some of them have been living there for generations. Tamil migration to South Africa started as from 1860, first as indentured labour, now there are more than 250,000 Tamils spread over in many cities, the concentration being in Natal and Durban. Mauritius has a Tamil population of 115,000, most arrived from Tamil Nadu after 1727 to serve as labourers on the sugar cane plantations

23.
Equinox
–
An equinox is the moment in which the plane of Earths equator passes through the center of the Sun, which occurs twice each year, around 20 March and 23 September. On an equinox, day and night are of equal duration all over the planet. They are not exactly equal, however, due to the size of the sun. To avoid this ambiguity, the word equilux is sometimes used to mean a day in which the durations of light, see Length of equinoctial day and night for further discussion. The word is derived from the Latin aequinoctium, aequus and nox, the equinoxes are the only times when the solar terminator is perpendicular to the equator. As a result, the northern and southern hemispheres are equally illuminated, the word comes from Latin equi or equal and nox meaning night. In other words, the equinoxes are the times when the subsolar point is on the equator. The subsolar point crosses the equator moving northward at the March equinox, the equinoxes, along with solstices, are directly related to the seasons of the year. In the southern hemisphere, the equinox occurs in September. When Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BC, he set 25 March as the date of the spring equinox. Because the Julian year is longer than the tropical year. By 1500 AD, it had drifted backwards to 11 March and this drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to create a modern Gregorian calendar. However, the leap year intervals in his calendar were not smooth and this causes the equinox to oscillate by about 53 hours around its mean position. This in turn raised the possibility that it could fall on 22 March, the astronomers chose the appropriate number of days to omit so that the equinox would swing from 19 to 21 March but never fall on the 22nd. Vernal equinox and Autumnal equinox, these names are direct derivatives of Latin. The equivalent common language English terms spring equinox and autumn equinox are even more ambiguous, March equinox and September equinox, names referring to the months of the year they occur, with no ambiguity as to which hemisphere is the context. They are still not universal, however, as not all use a solar-based calendar where the equinoxes occur every year in the same month. Northward equinox and southward equinox, names referring to the apparent direction of motion of the Sun

24.
Assam
–
Assam (English pronunciation, /əˈsæm/ listen is a state in northeastern India. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra Valley, Assam, along with Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and Meghalaya, is one of the Seven Sister States. Geographically, Assam and these states are connected to the rest of India via a 22 kilometres strip of land in West Bengal called the Siliguri Corridor or Chickens Neck. Assam shares a border with Bhutan and Bangladesh, and its culture, people. Assam is known for Assam tea and Assam silk, the first oil well in Asia was drilled here. The state has conserved the one-horned Indian rhinoceros from near extinction, along with the water buffalo, pygmy hog, tiger. It provides one of the last wild habitats for the Asian elephant, the Assamese economy is aided by wildlife tourism, centred around Kaziranga National Park and Manas National Park which are World Heritage Sites. Sal tree forests are found in the state which, as a result of abundant rainfall, Assam receives more rainfall compared to most parts of India. This rain feeds the Brahmaputra River, whose tributaries and oxbow lakes provide the region with a hydro-geomorphic and aesthetic environment, the precise etymology of Assam came from Ahom Dynasty. In the classical period and up to the 12th century the region east of the Karatoya river, largely congruent to present-day Assam, was called Kamarupa, in medieval times the Mughals used Asham and Kamrup, and during British colonialism, the English used Assam. Though many authors have associated the name with the 13th century Shan invaders the precise origin of the name is not clear. It was suggested by some that the Sanskrit word Asama was the root, which has been rejected by Kakati, among possible origins are Tai and Bodo. Assam and adjoining regions have evidences of settlements from all the periods of the Stone ages. The hills at the height of 1, 500–2,000 feet were popular habitats probably due to availability of exposed dolerite basalt, useful for tool-making. According to a text, Kalika Purana, the earliest ruler of Assam was Mahiranga Danav of the Danava dynasty. The last of these rulers, also Naraka, was slain by Krishna, narakas son Bhagadatta became the king, who fought for the Kauravas in the battle of Kurukshetra with an army of kiratas, chinas and dwellers of the eastern coast. Samudraguptas 4th century Allahabad pillar inscription mentions Kamarupa and Davaka as frontier kingdoms of the Gupta Empire, ruled by three dynasties Varmanas, Mlechchha dynasty and Kamarupa-Palas, from their capitals in present-day Guwahati, Tezpur and North Gauhati respectively. All three dynasties claimed their descent from Narakasura, an immigrant from Aryavarta, in the reign of the Varman king, Bhaskar Varman, the Chinese traveller Xuanzang visited the region and recorded his travels

25.
West Bengal
–
West Bengal is an Indian state, located in East India on the Bay of Bengal. It is Indias fourth-most populous state, with over 91 million inhabitants and it has a total area of 34,267 sq mi, making it similar in size to Serbia. A part of the ethno-linguistic Bengal region, it borders Bangladesh in the east and Nepal and it also has borders five Indian states, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the seventh-largest city in India, the geography of West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in its extreme north, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region and the coastal Sundarbans. The main ethnic group are the Bengali people, with Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority, Ancient Bengal was the site of several major janapadas, including Vanga, Radha, Pundra and Suhma. In the 2nd century BC, the region was conquered by the emperor Ashoka, in the 4th century AD, it was absorbed into the Gupta Empire. From the 13th century onward, the region was ruled by sultans, powerful Hindu states and Baro-Bhuyan landlords. The British East India Company cemented their hold on the following the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Between 1977 and 2011, the state was administered by the worlds longest elected Communist government, a major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to Indias net domestic product. It is noted for its activities and the presence of cultural and educational institutions. The states cultural heritage, besides varied folk traditions, ranges from stalwarts in literature including Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore to scores of musicians, film-makers and artists. West Bengal is also distinct from most other Indian states in its appreciation and practice of playing football besides cricket. The origin of the name Bengal is unknown, one theory suggests that the word derives from Bang, a Dravidian tribe that settled the region around 1000 BC. The word might have derived from the ancient kingdom of Vanga. Although some early Sanskrit literature mentions the name, the early history is obscure. At the end of British Rule over the Indian subcontinent, the Bengal region was partitioned in 1947 along religious lines into east and west, the east came to be known as East Bengal and the west came to known as West Bengal, which continued as an Indian state. In 2011, the Government of West Bengal proposed a change in the name of the state to Poschimbongo. This is the name of the state, literally meaning western Bengal in the native Bengali language

26.
Kerala
–
Kerala historically known as Keralam, is an Indian state in South India on the Malabar Coast. It was formed on 1 November 1956 following the States Reorganisation Act by combining Malayalam-speaking regions, spread over 38,863 km2, it is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33,387,677 inhabitants as per the 2011 Census, Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state. The region has been a prominent spice exporter since 3000 BCE, the Chera Dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala, though it frequently struggled against attacks by the neighbouring Cholas and Pandyas. In the 15th century, the spice trade attracted Portuguese traders to Kerala, after independence, Travancore and Cochin joined the Republic of India and Travancore-Cochin was given the status of a state in 1949. In 1956, Kerala state was formed by merging Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin, Hinduism is practised by more than half of the population, followed by Islam and Christianity. The culture is a synthesis of Aryan and Dravidian cultures, developed over millennia, under influences from other parts of India, the production of pepper and natural rubber contributes significantly to the total national output. In the agricultural sector, coconut, tea, coffee, cashew, the states coastline extends for 595 kilometres, and around 1.1 million people in the state are dependent on the fishery industry which contributes 3% to the states income. The state has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English, Kerala is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India, with backwaters, beaches, Ayurvedic tourism and tropical greenery as its major attractions. The name Kerala has an uncertain etymology, One popular theory derives Kerala from Kera and alam is land, thus land of coconuts, this also happens to be a nickname for the state due to abundance of coconut trees and its use by the locals. The word Kerala is first recorded in a 3rd-century BCE rock inscription left by the Maurya emperor Ashoka, the inscription refers to the local ruler as Keralaputra, or son of Chera. This contradicts the theory that Kera is from coconut tree, at that time, one of three states in the region was called Cheralam in Classical Tamil, Chera and Kera are variants of the same word. The word Cheral refers to the oldest known dynasty of Kerala kings and is derived from the Proto-Tamil-Malayalam word for lake, the earliest Sanskrit text to mention Kerala is the Aitareya Aranyaka of the Rigveda. It is also mentioned in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two Hindu epics, the Skanda Purana mentions the ecclesiastical office of the Thachudaya Kaimal who is referred to as Manikkam Keralar, synonymous with the deity of the Koodalmanikyam temple. Keralam may stem from the Classical Tamil cherive-alam or chera alam, the Greco-Roman trade map Periplus Maris Erythraei refers to Keralaputra as Celobotra. According to Hindu mythology, the lands of Kerala were recovered from the sea by the warrior sage Parasurama. Parasurama threw his axe across the sea, and the water receded as far as it reached, according to legend, this new area of land extended from Gokarna to Kanyakumari. The land which rose from sea was filled with salt and unsuitable for habitation, so Parasurama invoked the Snake King Vasuki, out of respect, Vasuki and all snakes were appointed as protectors and guardians of the land

27.
Manipur
–
Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south, the state covers an area of 22,327 square kilometres and has a population of almost 3 million, including the Meitei, Kuki, Naga, and Pangal peoples, who speak Sino-Tibetan languages. Manipur has been at the crossroads of Asian economic and cultural exchange for more than 2,500 years and it has long connected the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia, enabling migration of people, cultures and religions. During the British Rule, the Kingdom of Manipur was one of the princely states, between 1917 and 1939, the people of Manipur pressed for their rights against the British Rule. By the late 1930s, the state of Manipur negotiated with the British administration its preference to be part of India. These negotiations were cut short with the outbreak of World War II, on 21 September 1949, Maharaja Budhachandra signed a Treaty of Accession merging the kingdom into India. This merger is disputed by groups in Manipur as having been completed without consensus, the dispute and differing visions for the future has resulted in a 50-year insurgency in the state for independence from India, as well as in violence between ethnic groups in the state. Over 2010–2013, the militant insurgency was responsible for the violent death of about 1 civilian per 100,000 people, the world average annual death rate from intentional violence has been 7.9 per 100,000 people. The Meitei ethnic group, represents 53% of the population of Manipur state, the main language of the state is Meitei. By comparison, indigenous tribal peoples constitute 20% of the population, they are distinguished by dialects. Manipurs ethnic groups practice a variety of religions, according to 2011 census, Hinduism is the major religion in the state closely followed by Christianity. Other religions include Islam, Sanamahism, Buddhism etc, Manipur has primarily an agrarian economy, with significant hydroelectric power generation potential. It is connected to areas by daily flights through Imphal airport. Manipur is home to sports, the origin of Manipuri dance. Manipur is mentioned in texts as Kangleipak or Meeteileipak which covered only the three valleys districts, Bishnupur, Thoubal and Imphal. Sanamahi Laikan wrote that officials during the reign of Meidingu Pamheiba in the eighteenth century adopted Manipurs new name, according to Sakok Lamlen, the area had different names in its history. During the Hayachak period, it was known as Mayai Koiren poirei namthak saronpung or Tilli Koktong Ahanba, during the Langbachak era, it became Tilli Koktong Leikoiren, and finally Muwapali in the Konnachak epoch. Neighbouring cultures each had differing names for Manipur and its people, the Shan or Pong called the area Cassay, the Burmese Kathe, and the Assamese Meklee

28.
Tripura
–
Tripura /ˈtrɪpuːrɑː/ is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers 10,491 km2 and is bordered by Bangladesh to the north, south, and west, in 2011 the state had 3,671,032 residents, constituting 0. 3% of the countrys population. The Bengali Hindu people form the majority in Tripura. Indigenous communities, known in India as scheduled tribes, form about 30 per cent of Tripuras population, the Kokborok speaking Tripuri people are the major group among 19 tribes and many subtribes. The area of modern Tripura was ruled for centuries by the Tripuri dynasty. The independent Tripuri Kingdom joined the newly independent India in 1949, Tripura lies in a geographically disadvantageous location in India, as only one major highway, the National Highway 8, connects it with the rest of the country. Five mountain ranges—Boromura, Atharamura, Longtharai, Shakhan and Jampui Hills—run north to south, with intervening valleys, Agartala, the state has a tropical savanna climate, and receives seasonal heavy rains from the south west monsoon. Forests cover more than half of the area, in which bamboo, Tripura has the highest number of primate species found in any Indian state. Due to its isolation, economic progress in the state is hindered. Poverty and unemployment continue to plague Tripura, which has a limited infrastructure, most residents are involved in agriculture and allied activities, although the service sector is the largest contributor to the states gross domestic product. The sculptures at the archaeological sites Unakoti, Pilak and Devtamura provide historical evidence of fusion between organised and tribal religions. The Ujjayanta Palace in Agartala was the royal abode of the Tripuri king. Tripur was the 39th descendant of Druhyu, who belonged to the lineage of Yayati, one of the Puranas, the text about the exploits of Shiva, tells the story of the sack of Tripura. Variants of the name include Tripra, Tuipura and Tippera, although there is no evidence of lower or middle Paleolithic settlements in Tripura, Upper Paleolithic tools made of fossil wood have been found in the Haora and Khowai valleys. An ancient name of Tripura is Kirat Desh, probably referring to the Kirata Kingdoms or the generic term Kirata. However, it is whether the extent of modern Tripura is coterminous with Kirat Desh. The region was under the rule of the Twipra Kingdom for centuries, the boundaries of the kingdom changed over the centuries. At various times, the borders reached south to the jungles of the Sundarbans on the Bay of Bengal, east to Burma, the Mughals had influence over the appointment of the Tripuri kings

29.
Bihar
–
Bihar is a state in the eastern part of India. It is the 13th-largest state of India, with an area of 94,163 km2. The third-largest state of India by population, it is contiguous with Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the Bihar plain is split by the river Ganges which flows from west to east. On November 15,2000, southern Bihar was ceded to form the new state of Jharkhand, only 11. 3% of the population of Bihar lives in urban areas, which is lowest in India after Himachal Pradesh. Additionally, almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, the official languages of the state are Hindi and Urdu. Other languages commonly used within the state include Bhojpuri, Maithili, Magahi, Bajjika, in ancient and classical India, Bihar was considered a centre of power, learning, and culture. From Magadha arose Indias first empire, the Maurya empire, as well as one of the worlds most widely adhered-to religions, Magadha empires, notably under the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, unified large parts of South Asia under a central rule. Another region of Bihar is Mithila which was a centre of Brahmanical learning. Since the late 1970s, Bihar has lagged far behind other Indian states in terms of social, the state government has, however, made significant strides in developing the state. The name Bihar is derived from the Sanskrit and Pali word, Vihara, the region roughly encompassing the present state was dotted with Buddhist vihara, the abodes of Buddhist monks in the ancient and medieval periods. Medieval writer Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani records in the Tabakat-i-Nasiri that in 1198, Bakhtiyar Khalji committed a massacre in a town now known as Bihar Sharif, chirand, on the northern bank of the Ganga River, in Saran district, has an archaeological record from the Neolithic age. Regions of Bihar—such as Magadha, Mithila and Anga—are mentioned in religious texts, the power centre of ancient Bihar was in the region of modern-day southwestern Bihar called Magadha, which remained the centre of power, learning, and culture in India for 1000 years. The Haryanka dynasty, founded in 684 BC, ruled Magadha from the city of Rajgriha, the two well-known kings from this dynasty were Bimbisara and his son Ajatashatru, who imprisoned his father to ascend the throne. Ajatashatru founded the city of Pataliputra which later became the capital of Magadha and he declared war and conquered the Vajji of north Bihar, another powerful Mahajanapada north of Ganges with its capital at Vaishali. Vaishali was ruled by the Licchavi clan, who had a form of government where the king was elected from the number of rajas. The Haryanka dynasty was followed by the Shishunaga dynasty, later the Nanda Dynasty ruled a vast tract stretching from Bengal to Punjab. The Nanda dynasty was replaced by the Maurya Empire, Indias first empire, the Maurya Empire and the religion of Buddhism arose in the region that now makes up modern Bihar. The Mauryan Empire, which originated from Magadha in 325 BC, was founded by Chandragupta Maurya and it had its capital at Pataliputra

30.
Odisha
–
Odisha (/ɒˈrɪsə, ɔː-, oʊ-/, is one of the 29 states of India, located in the eastern coast. It is surrounded by the states of West Bengal to the north-east, Jharkhand to the north, Chhattisgarh to the west and north-west, Odisha has 485 kilometres of coastline along the Bay of Bengal on its east, from Balasore to Malkangiri. It is the 9th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population and it is also the 3rd most populous state of India in terms of tribal population. Odia is the official and most widely spoken language, spoken by 33.2 million according to the 2001 Census. The ancient kingdom of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in 261 BCE resulting in the Kalinga War, the modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April 1936, as a province in British India, and consisted predominantly of Odia-speaking regions. April 1 is celebrated as Odisha Day, the region is also known as Utkala and is mentioned in Indias national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. Cuttack was made the capital of the region by Anantavarman Chodaganga in c,1135, after which the city was used as the capital by many rulers, through the British era until 1948. Thereafter, Bhubaneswar became the capital of Odisha, the term Odisha is derived from the ancient Prakrit word Odda Visaya as in the Tirumalai inscription of Rajendra Chola I, which is dated to 1025. Sarala Das, who translated the Mahabharata into the Odia language in the 15th century, calls the region Odra Rashtra, the inscriptions of Kapilendra Deva of the Gajapati Kingdom on the walls of temples in Puri call the region Odisha or Odisha Rajya. After a brief debate, the house, Lok Sabha, passed the bill. On 24 March 2011, Rajya Sabha, the house of Parliament, also passed the bill. Prehistoric Acheulian tools dating to Lower Paleolithic era have been discovered in places in the region. Kalinga has been mentioned in ancient texts like Mahabharata, Vayu Purana, the Sabar people of Odisha have also been mentioned in the Mahabharata. Baudhayana mentions Kalinga as not yet being influenced by Vedic traditions, Ashoka of the Mauryan dynasty conquered Kalinga in the bloody Kalinga War in 261 BCE, which was the eighth year of his reign. According to his own edicts, in that war about 100,000 people were killed,150,000 were captured, the resulting bloodshed and suffering of the war is said to have deeply affected Ashoka. He turned into a pacifist and converted to Buddhism, by c.150 CE, emperor Kharavela, who was possibly a contemporary of Demetrius I of Bactria, conquered a major part of the Indian sub-continent. He also built the monastery atop the Udayagiri hill, subsequently, the region was ruled by monarchs, such as Samudragupta and Shashanka. It was also a part of Harshas empire, later, the kings of the Somavamsi dynasty began to unite the region

31.
Punjab, India
–
Punjab is a state in North India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state capital is located in Chandigarh, a Union Territory, after the partition of India in 1947, the Punjab province of British India was divided between India and Pakistan. The Indian Punjab was divided on the basis of language in 1966 and it was divided into 3 parts. Haryanvi speaking areas were carved out as Haryana, Hilly regions, Punjab is the only Sikh majority state in India with Sikhs being 57. 69% of the population. Agriculture is the largest industry in Punjab, Punjab has the largest number of steel rolling mill plants in India, which are located in Steel Town—Mandi Gobindgarh in the Fatehgarh Sahib district. The word Punjab is a compound of the Persian words panj, thus Panjāb roughly means the land of five rivers. The five rivers are the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab, traditionally, in English, there used to be a definite article before the name, i. e. The name is sometimes spelled as Panjab. During the period when the epic Mahabharata was written, around 800–400 BCE, Punjab was known as Trigarta, the Indus Valley Civilization spanned much of the Punjab region with cities such as Rupar. The Vedic Civilization spread along the length of the Sarasvati River to cover most of northern India including Punjab and this civilisation shaped subsequent cultures in the Indian subcontinent. The Punjab region was conquered by many ancient empires including the Gandhara, Nandas, Mauryas, Shungas, Kushans, Guptas, Palas, Gurjara-Pratiharas, the furthest eastern extent of Alexander the Greats exploration was along the Indus River. Agriculture flourished and trading cities such as Jalandhar, Sangrur and Ludhiana grew in wealth, due to its location, the Punjab region came under constant attack and influence from both west and east. Punjab faced invasions by the Achaemenids, Greeks, Scythians, Turks and this resulted in the Punjab witnessing centuries of bitter bloodshed. Its culture combines Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Sikh and British influences, the regions of Azad Kashmir and Jammu have also been historically associated with the Punjab. The Punjab is the Sapta Sindhu region mentioned in the Rig Veda, among the classic books that were wholly or partly composed in this region are the following. The Brahmins of this region are called Saraswata after the legendary Saraswati river region, Hinduism has been prevalent in Punjab since historical times before the arrival of Islam and birth of Sikhism in Punjab. Some of the influential Sikh figures such as Guru Nanak, Banda Singh Bahadur, Bhai Mati Das, many of Punjabs Hindus converted to Sikhism. Punjabi Hindus can trace their roots from the time of the Vedas, many modern day cities in Indian Punjab and Pakistani Punjab are still named from that period like Lahore, Jalandhar, Chandigarh and so on

32.
Uttar Pradesh
–
Uttar Pradesh, abbreviated as UP, is the most populous state in the Republic of India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. The state, located in the region of the Indian subcontinent, has over 200 million inhabitants. It was created on 1 April 1937 as the United Provinces during British rule, Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Bhadohi, Raebareli, Moradabad, Bareilly, Aligarh, Sonbhadra, on 9 November 2000, a new state, Uttarakhand, was carved out from the Himalayan hill region of Uttar Pradesh. It covers 243,290 square kilometres, equal to 7. 33% of the area of India. Hindi is the official and most widely spoken language in its 75 districts, Uttar Pradesh is the third largest Indian state by economy, with a GDP of ₹9,763 billion. Agriculture and service industries are the largest parts of the states economy, the service sector comprises travel and tourism, hotel industry, real estate, insurance and financial consultancies. Uttar Pradesh was home to powerful empires of ancient and medieval India, the two major rivers of the state, the Ganges and Yamuna, join at Allahabad and then flow as the Ganges further east. Modern human hunter-gatherers have been in Uttar Pradesh since between around 85,000 and 72,000 years ago, the kingdom of Kosala, in the Mahajanapada era, was located within the regional boundaries of modern-day Uttar Pradesh. According to Hindu legend, the divine king Rama of the Ramayana epic reigned in Ayodhya, the aftermath of the Mahabharata yuddh is believed to have taken place in the area between the Upper Doab and Delhi, during the reign of the Pandava king Yudhishthira. The kingdom of the Kurus corresponds to the Black and Red Ware and Painted Gray Ware culture, most of the invaders of south India passed through the Gangetic plains of what is today Uttar Pradesh. Control over this region was of importance to the power and stability of all of Indias major empires, including the Maurya, Kushan, Gupta. Following the Huns invasions that broke the Gupta empire, the Ganges-Yamuna Doab saw the rise of Kannauj, during the reign of Harshavardhana, the Kannauj empire reached its zenith. It spanned from Punjab in the north and Gujarat in the west to Bengal in the east and it included parts of central India, north of the Narmada River and it encompassed the entire Indo-Gangetic plain. Many communities in parts of India claim descent from the migrants of Kannauj. Kannauj was several times invaded by the south Indian Rashtrakuta Dynasty, in the Mughal era, Uttar Pradesh became the heartland of the empire. Mughal emperors Babur and Humayun ruled from Delhi, in 1540 an Afghan, Sher Shah Suri, took over the reins of Uttar Pradesh after defeating the Mughal king Humanyun. Sher Shah and his son Islam Shah ruled Uttar Pradesh from their capital at Gwalior, after the death of Islam Shah Suri, his prime minister Hemu became the de facto ruler of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and the western parts of Bengal

33.
Uttarakhand
–
Uttarakhand, officially the State of Uttarakhand, formerly known as Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Devbhumi due to many Hindu temples, Uttarakhand is known for its natural beauty of the Himalayas, the Bhabhar and the Terai. On 9 November 2000, Uttarakhand became the 27th state of the Republic of India, being created from the Himalayan, the state is divided into two divisions, Garhwal and Kumaon, with a total of 13 districts. The interim capital of Uttarakhand is Dehradun, the largest city in the region, the High Court of the state is in Nainital. Archaeological evidence supports the existence of humans in the region since prehistoric times, the region formed a part of the Kuru and the Panchal kingdoms during the Vedic age of Ancient India. Among the first major dynasties of Kumaon were the Kunindas in the 2nd century BCE who practised a form of Shaivism. Ashokan edicts at Kalsi show the presence of Buddhism in this region. During the medieval period, the region was consolidated under the Kumaon Kingdom, in 1816, most of modern Uttarakhand was ceded to the British as part of the Treaty of Sugauli. The natives of the state are generally called Uttarakhandi, or more specifically either Garhwali or Kumaoni by their region of origin, according to the 2011 Census of India, Uttarakhand has a population of 10,116,752, making it the 19th most populous state in India. Uttarakhands name is derived from the Sanskrit words uttara meaning north, the name finds mention in early Hindu scriptures as the combined region of Kedarkhand and Manaskhand. Uttarakhand was also the ancient Puranic term for the stretch of the Indian Himalayas. Chosen for its allegedly less separatist connotations, the name change generated enormous controversy among many activists for a separate state who saw it as a political act, the name Uttarakhand remained popular in the region, even while Uttaranchal was promulgated through official usage. In August 2006, Union Cabinet of India assented to the demands of the Uttaranchal state assembly, legislation to that effect was passed by the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly in October 2006, and the Union Cabinet brought in the bill in the winter session of Parliament. The bill was passed by Parliament and signed into law by then President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in December 2006, and since January 1,2007 the state has been known as Uttarakhand. Ancient rock paintings, rock shelters, paleolithic stone tools, there are also archaeological remains which show the existence of early Vedic practices in the area. The Pauravas, Kushanas, Kunindas, Guptas, Gurjara-Pratihara, Katyuris, Raikas, Palas, Chands, Parmars or Panwars, at that time, present-day Uttarakhand also served as a habitat for Rishis and Sadhus. It is believed that the sage Vyasa scripted the Hindu epic Mahabharata in the state, among the first major dynasties of Garhwal and Kumaon were the Kunindas in the 2nd century BCE who practised an early form of Shaivism and traded salt with Western Tibet. It is evident from the Ashokan edict at Kalsi in Western Garhwal that Buddhism made inroads in this region, folk shamanic practices deviating from Hindu orthodoxy also persisted here

34.
Himachal Pradesh
–
Himachal Pradesh is a state of India located in Northern India. It is bordered by Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab and Chandigarh on the west, Haryana on the south-west, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east. The name was coined from Sanskrit him snow and achal mountain, by Acharya Diwakar Datt Sharma, Himachal Pradesh is famous for its natural beauty, hill stations, and temples. Himachal Pradesh has been ranked fifteenth in the list of the highest per capita incomes of Indian states, many perennial rivers flow in the state, and numerous hydroelectric projects set up. Himachal produces surplus hydroelectricity and sells it to states such as Delhi, Punjab. Hydroelectric power projects, tourism, and agriculture form important parts of the states economy, the state has several valleys, and more than 90% of the population living in rural areas. Practically all houses have a toilet and 100% hygiene has been achieved in the state, the villages have good connectivity with roads, public health centres, and now with high-speed broadband. Shimla district has maximum urban population of 25%, according to a 2005 Transparency International survey, Himachal Pradesh was ranked the second-least corrupt state in the country, after Kerala. The history of the area that now constitutes Himachal Pradesh dates to the Indus valley civilisation that flourished between 2250 and 1750 BCE, tribes such as the Koili, Hali, Dagi, Dhaugri, Dasa, Khasa, Kinnar, and Kirat inhabited the region from the prehistoric era. During the Vedic period, several small republics known as Janapada existed which were conquered by the Gupta Empire. After a brief period of supremacy by King Harshavardhana, the region was divided into several local powers headed by chieftains and these kingdoms enjoyed a large degree of independence and were invaded by Delhi Sultanate a number of times. Mahmud Ghaznavi conquered Kangra at the beginning of the 10th century, timur and Sikander Lodi also marched through the lower hills of the state and captured a number of forts and fought many battles. Several hill states acknowledged Mughal suzerainty and paid tribute to the Mughals. The Gurkha people, a tribe, came to power in Nepal in the year 1768. They consolidated their power and began to expand their territory. Gradually, the Gorkhas annexed Sirmour and Shimla, under the leadership of Amar Singh Thapa, the Gurkha laid siege to Kangra. They managed to defeat Sansar Chand Katoch, the ruler of Kangra, however, the Gurkha could not capture Kangra fort which came under Maharaja Ranjeet Singh in 1809. After the defeat, the Gurkha began to expand towards the south of the state, however, Raja Ram Singh, Raja of Siba State, captured the fort of Siba from the remnants of Lahore Darbar in Samvat 1846, during the First Anglo-Sikh War

35.
Haryana
–
Haryana is one of the 29 states in India, situated in North India. It was carved out of the state of East Punjab on 1 November 1966 on a linguistic basis. It stands 21st in terms of its area, which is spread about 44,212 km2, as of 2011 census of India, the state is eighteenth largest by population with 25,353,081 inhabitants. The city of Chandigarh is its capital while the NCR city of Faridabad is the most populous city of the state, Haryana is one of the most economically developed regions in South Asia, and its agricultural and manufacturing industries have experienced sustained growth since the 1970s. Since 2000, the state has emerged as the largest recipient of investment per capita in India and it is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south. The river Yamuna defines its border with Uttar Pradesh. Haryana surrounds the countrys capital Delhi on three sides, forming the northern, western and southern borders of Delhi, consequently, a large area of south Haryana is included in the National Capital Region for purposes of planning for development. The name Haryana is found in the works of the 12th-century AD Apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar, the name Haryana has been derived from the Sanskrit words Hari and ayana, meaning the Abode of God. However, scholars such as Muni Lal, Murli Chand Sharma, HA Phadke and Sukhdev Singh Chib believe that the name comes from a compound of the words Hari and Aranya. Vedic state of Brahmavarta is claimed to be located in a new research in south Haryana, manusmriti, a flood time document composed by Manu and Bhrigu is now dated 10,000 years old. Rakhigarhi village in the Hisar district is home to the largest and one of the oldest ancient Indus Valley Civilization sites, evidence of paved roads, a drainage system, a large-scale rainwater collection storage system, terracotta brick and statue production, and skilled metal working have been uncovered. According to archeologists, Rakhigarhi may be the origin of Harappan civilisation, the area that is now Haryana has been ruled by major empires of India. Panipat is known for three seminal battles in the history of India, in the First Battle of Panipat, Babur defeated the Lodis. In the Second Battle of Panipat, Akbar defeated the local Haryanvi Hindu Emperor of Delhi, hemu, had earlier won 22 battles across India from Punjab to Bengal defeating Mughals and Afghans. Hemu had defeated Akbars forces twice at Agra and Battle of Delhi in 1556 to become last Hindu Emperor of India with formal Coronation at Purana Quila in Delhi on 7th Oct.1556, in the Third Battle of Panipat, the Afghan king Ahmad Shah Abdali defeated the Marathas. Haryana state was formed on 1 November 1966, the commission delivered its report on 31 May 1966 whereby the then-districts of Hisar, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Karnal were to be a part of the new state of Haryana. Further, the tehsils of Jind and Narwana in the Sangrur district—along with Naraingarh, Ambala, the commission recommended that the tehsil of Kharad, which includes Chandigarh, the state capital of Punjab, should be a part of Haryana. However, only a portion of Kharad was given to Haryana

36.
Rajasthan
–
Rajasthan is Indias largest state by area. Elsewhere it is bordered by the other Indian states, Punjab to the north, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to the northeast, Madhya Pradesh to the southeast, and Gujarat to the southwest. Rajasthan is also home to two national reserves, the Ranthambore National Park in Sawai Madhopur and Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar. The state was formed on 30 March 1949 when Rajputana – the name adopted by the British Raj for its dependencies in the region – was merged into the Dominion of India. Its capital and largest city is Jaipur, also known as Pink City, other important cities are Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota and Ajmer. Parts of what is now Rajasthan were partly part of the Vedic Civilisation, kalibangan, in Hanumangarh district, was a major provincial capital of the Indus Valley Civilization. Matsya Kingdom of the Vedic civilisation of India, is said to roughly corresponded to the state of Jaipur in Rajasthan. The capital of Matsya was at Viratanagar, which is said to have named after its founder king Virata. Bhargava identifies the two districts of Jhunjhunu and Sikar and parts of Jaipur district along with Haryana districts of Mahendragarh, bhargava also locates the present day Sahibi River as the Vedic Drishadwati River, which along with Saraswati River formed the borders of the Vedic state of Brahmavarta. Manu and Bhrigu narrated the Manusmriti to a congregation of seers in this area only, the Indo-Scythians invaded the area of Ujjain and established the Saka era, marking the beginning of the long-lived Saka Western Satraps state. Gurjars ruled for many dynasties in this part of the country, up to the tenth century almost the whole of North India, acknowledged the supremacy of the Gurjars with their seat of power at Kannauj. The Gurjar Pratihar Empire acted as a barrier for Arab invaders from the 8th to the 11th century, the chief accomplishment of the Gurjara Pratihara empire lies in its successful resistance to foreign invasions from the west, starting in the days of Junaid. Majumdar says that this was acknowledged by the Arab writers. He further notes that historians of India have wondered at the progress of Muslim invaders in India. Traditionally the Rajputs, Jats, Meenas, REBARI, Gurjars, Bhils, Rajpurohit, Charans, Yadavs, Bishnois, Sermals, PhulMali, all these tribes suffered great difficulties in protecting their culture and the land. Millions of them were killed trying to protect their land, a number of Gurjars had been exterminated in Bhinmal and Ajmer areas fighting with the invaders. Meenas were rulers of Bundi, Hadoti and the Dhundhar region, hem Chandra Vikramaditya, the Hindu Emperor, was born in the village of Machheri in Alwar District in 1501. Hem Chandra was killed in the battlefield at Second Battle of Panipat fighting against Mughals on 5 November 1556, maharana Pratap of Mewar resisted Akbar in the famous Battle of Haldighati and later operated from hilly areas of his kingdom

37.
Nepal
–
Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia. Nepal is divided into 7 provinces and 75 districts and 744 local units including 4 metropolises,13 sub-metropolises,246 municipal councils and 481 village and it has a population of 26.4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area. Bordering China in the north and India in the south, east, Nepal does not border Bangladesh, which is located within only 27 km of its southeastern tip. It neither borders Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between, Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the worlds ten tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. It is a nation with Nepali as the official language. The territory of Nepal has a history since the Neolithic age. The name Nepal is first recorded in texts from the Vedic Age, the era which founded Hinduism, in the middle of the first millennium BCE, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born in southern Nepal. Parts of northern Nepal were intertwined with the culture of Tibet, the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal became known as Nepal proper because of its complex urban civilization. It was the seat of the prosperous Newar confederacy known as Nepal Mandala, the Himalayan branch of the ancient Silk Road was dominated by the valleys traders. The cosmopolitan region developed distinct traditional art and architecture, by the 18th century, the Gorkha Kingdom achieved the unification of Nepal. The Shah dynasty established the Kingdom of Nepal and later formed an alliance with the British Empire, the country was never colonized but served as a buffer state between Imperial China and Colonial India. In the 20th century, Nepal ended its isolation and forged ties with regional powers. Parliamentary democracy was introduced in 1951, but was suspended by Nepalese monarchs in 1960 and 2005. The Nepalese Civil War resulted in the proclamation of a republic in 2008, modern Nepal is a federal secular parliamentary republic. Nepal is a nation, ranking 144th on the Human Development Index in 2016. The country struggles with the transition from a monarchy to a republic and it also suffers from high levels of hunger and poverty. Despite these challenges, Nepal is making progress, with the government declaring its commitment to elevate the nation from least developed country status by 2022

38.
Bangladesh
–
Bangladesh, officially the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It shares land borders with India and Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and China are located near Bangladesh but do not share a border with it. The countrys maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal is roughly equal to the size of its land area, Bangladesh is the worlds eighth most populous country. Dhaka is its capital and largest city, followed by Chittagong which has the countrys largest port, Bangladesh forms the largest and eastern part of the Bengal region. Bangladeshis include people of different ethnic groups and religions, Bengalis, who speak the official Bengali, make up 98% of the population. The politically dominant Bengali Muslims make the nation the worlds third largest Muslim-majority country, most of Bangladesh is covered by the Bengal delta, the largest delta on Earth. The country has 700 rivers and 8,046 km of inland waterways, highlands with evergreen forests are found in the northeastern and southeastern regions of the country. Bangladesh has many islands and a coral reef and it is home to the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. The countrys biodiversity includes a vast array of plant and wildlife, including critically endangered Bengal tigers, the Greeks and Romans identified the region as Gangaridai, a powerful kingdom of the historical subcontinent, in the 3rd century BCE. Archaeological research has unearthed several ancient cities in Bangladesh, which had trade links for millennia. The Bengal Sultanate and Mughal Bengal transformed the region into a cosmopolitan Islamic imperial power between the 14th and 18th centuries, the region was home to many principalities which had inland naval prowess. It was also a center of the worldwide muslin and silk trade. As part of British India, the region was influenced by the Bengali renaissance, the Partition of British India made East Bengal a part of the Dominion of Pakistan, and was renamed as East Pakistan. The region witnessed the Bengali Language Movement in 1952 and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, after independence, a parliamentary republic was established. A presidential government was in place between 1975 and 1990, followed by a return to parliamentary democracy, the country has also been affected by poverty, natural disasters, hunger, dominant party systems and military coups. Bangladesh is a power and a major developing nation. Listed as one of the Next Eleven, it has the 46th largest economy and it is one of the largest textile exporters in the world. Its major trading partners are the European Union, the United States, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, with its strategically vital location between Southern, Eastern and Southeast Asia, Bangladesh is an important promoter of regional connectivity and cooperation

39.
Myanmar
–
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is a sovereign state in South East Asia bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. About one third of Myanmars total perimeter of 5,876 km, forms an uninterrupted coastline of 1,930 km along the Bay of Bengal, the countrys 2014 census revealed a much lower population than expected, with 51 million people recorded. Myanmar is 676,578 square kilometres in size and its capital city is Naypyidaw and its largest city and former capital city is Yangon. Early civilizations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma, the Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty, the country was for a period the largest empire in the history of Mainland Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur. The British invaded Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the became a British colony. Myanmar became an independent nation in 1948, initially as a nation and then, following a coup détat in 1962. For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife, during this time, the United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country. In 2011, the junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election. While former military leaders still wield enormous power in the country, there is, however, continuing criticism of the governments treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority and its poor response to the religious clashes. In the landmark 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyis party won a majority in both houses, Myanmar is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. In 2013, its GDP stood at US$56.7 billion, the income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by supporters of the former military government. As of 2016, according to the Human Development Index, Myanmar had a level of human development. The renaming remains a contested issue, many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country. The countrys official name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form Union of Burma instead, in English, the country is popularly known as either Burma or Myanmar /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/. Both these names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group, Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from Bamar, the colloquial form of the groups name

40.
Cambodia
–
Cambodia, officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is 181,035 square kilometres in area, bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia has a population of over 15 million. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, practiced by approximately 95 percent of the population, the countrys minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams, and 30 hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, the political, economic, the kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years. In 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king, uniting the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name Kambuja. The Indianized kingdom built monumental temples including Angkor Wat, now a World Heritage Site, after the fall of Angkor to Ayutthaya in the 15th century, a reduced and weakened Cambodia was then ruled as a vassal state by its neighbours. In 1863 Cambodia became a protectorate of France which doubled the size of the country by reclaiming the north, the Vietnam War extended into the country with the US bombing of Cambodia from 1969 until 1973. Following the Cambodian coup of 1970, the king gave his support to his former enemies. Following the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, Cambodia was governed briefly by a United Nations mission, the UN withdrew after holding elections in which around 90 percent of the registered voters cast ballots. The 1997 coup placed power solely in the hands of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian Peoples Party, important sociopolitical issues includes widespread poverty, pervasive corruption, lack of political freedoms, low human development, and a high rate of hunger. While per capita income remains low compared to most neighbouring countries, agriculture remains the dominant economic sector, with strong growth in textiles, construction, garments, and tourism leading to increased foreign investment and international trade. Cambodia scored dismally in an annual index ranking the rule of law in 102 countries, placing 99th overall, Cambodia also faces environmental destruction as an imminent problem. The most severe activity in this regard is considered to be the countrywide deforestation, the Kingdom of Cambodia is the official English name of the country. The English Cambodia is an anglicisation of the French Cambodge, which in turn is the French transliteration of the Khmer Kampuchea, Kampuchea is the shortened alternative to the countrys official name in Khmer, Preah Reacheanachak Kampuchea. The Khmer endonym Kampuchea derives from the Sanskrit name Kambujadeśa, composed of देश, desa and कम्बोज, Kambujas, colloquially, Cambodians refer to their country as either Srok Khmer, meaning Khmers Land, or the slightly more formal Prateh Kampuchea, literally Country of Kampuchea. The name Cambodia is used most often in the Western world while Kampuchea is more used in the East. Excavations in its lower layers produced a series of dates as of 6000 BC

41.
Laos
–
Present day Laos traces its historic and cultural identity to the kingdom of Lan Xang Hom Khao, which existed for four centuries as one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. Due to Lan Xangs central geographical location in Southeast Asia, the kingdom was able to become a hub for overland trade. After a period of conflict, Lan Xang broke off into three separate kingdoms— Luang Phabang, Vientiane and Champasak. In 1893, it became a French protectorate, with the three territories uniting to form what is now known as the country of Laos and it briefly gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation, but returned to French rule until it was granted autonomy in 1949. Laos became independent in 1953, with a monarchy under Sisavang Vong. Shortly after independence, a civil war ended the monarchy. Laos is a one-party socialist republic and it espouses Marxism and is governed by the Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party, in which the party leadership is dominated by military figures. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Vietnam Peoples Army continue to have significant influence in Laos, other large cities include Luang Prabang, Savannakhet, and Pakse. Laos is a country with the politically and culturally dominant Lao people making up approximately 60 percent of the population. Mon-Khmer groups, the Hmong, and other hill tribes, accounting for 40 percent of the population, live in the foothills. It is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, East Asia Summit, Laos applied for membership of the World Trade Organization in 1997, on 2 February 2013, it was granted full membership. According to the anti-corruption non-governmental organisation Transparency International, Laos remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world and this has deterred foreign investment and created major problems with the rule of law, including the nations ability to enforce contract and business regulation. This has contributed to a third of the population of Laos currently living below the poverty line. Laos has an economy, with one of the lowest annual incomes in the world. In 2014, the country ranked 141st on the Human Development Index, according to the Global Hunger Index, Laos ranks as the 29th hungriest nation in the world out of the list of the 52 nations with the worst hunger situation. Laos has also had a human rights record. In the Lao language, the name is Muang Lao or Pathet Lao. Stone artefacts including Hoabinhian types have been found at sites dating to the Late Pleistocene in northern Laos, archaeological evidence suggests agriculturist society developed during the 4th millennium BC

42.
Thailand
–
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total area of approximately 513,000 km2, Thailand is the worlds 51st-largest country and it is the 20th-most-populous country in the world, with around 66 million people. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has switched between parliamentary democracy and military junta for decades, the latest coup being in May 2014 by the National Council for Peace and Order. Its capital and most populous city is Bangkok and its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. The Thai economy is the worlds 20th largest by GDP at PPP and it became a newly industrialised country and a major exporter in the 1990s. Manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism are leading sectors of the economy and it is considered a middle power in the region and around the world. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens, by outsiders prior to 1949, it was usually known by the exonym Siam. The word Siam has been identified with the Sanskrit Śyāma, the names Shan and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word. The word Śyâma is possibly not its origin, but a learned, another theory is the name derives from Chinese, Ayutthaya emerged as a dominant centre in the late fourteenth century. The Chinese called this region Xian, which the Portuguese converted into Siam, the signature of King Mongkut reads SPPM Mongkut King of the Siamese, giving the name Siam official status until 24 June 1939 when it was changed to Thailand. Thailand was renamed Siam from 1945 to 11 May 1949, after which it reverted to Thailand. According to George Cœdès, the word Thai means free man in the Thai language, ratcha Anachak Thai means kingdom of Thailand or kingdom of Thai. Etymologically, its components are, ratcha, -ana- -chak, the Thai National Anthem, written by Luang Saranupraphan during the extremely patriotic 1930s, refers to the Thai nation as, prathet Thai. The first line of the anthem is, prathet thai ruam lueat nuea chat chuea thai, Thailand is the unity of Thai flesh. There is evidence of habitation in Thailand that has been dated at 40,000 years before the present. Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, Thailand in its earliest days was under the rule of the Khmer Empire, which had strong Hindu roots, and the influence among Thais remains even today. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into Siam from India in the time of the Indian Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, later Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire. The Menam Basin was originally populated by the Mons, and the location of Dvaravati in the 7th century, the History of the Yuan mentions an embassy from the kingdom of Sukhothai in 1282

43.
Sangam period
–
Sangam period is the period in the history of ancient Tamil Nadu spanning from c. 4th century BC to c. It is named after the famous Sangam academies of poets and scholars centered in the city of Madurai, according to Tamil legends, there were three Sangam periods, namely Head Sangam, Middle Sangam and Last Sangam period. Historians use the term Sangam period to refer the last of these, so it is also called Last Sangam period, or Third Sangam period. The Sangam literature is thought to have produced in three Sangam academies of each period. The evidence on the history of the Tamil kingdoms consists of the epigraphs of the region, the Sangam literature. Approximately during the period between 400 BC to AD200, Tamilakam was ruled by the three Tamil dynasties of Pandya, Chola and Chera, and a few independent chieftains, the Velir. There is a wealth of sources detailing the history, socio-political environment and cultural practices of ancient Tamilakam, including volumes of literature, tamilakams history is split into three periods, prehistoric, classical and medieval. A vast array of literary, epigraphical and inscribed sources from around the world provide insight into the socio-political and cultural occurrences in the Tamil nation. The religion of the ancient Tamils closely follow roots of nature worship, in the ancient Sangam literature, Sivan was the supreme God, and Murugan was the one celebrated by the masses, both of them were sung as deified Tamil poets ascending the Koodal academy. The Tamil landscape was classified into five categories, thinais, based on the mood, the season, other ancient works refer to Maayon and Vaali. The most popular deity was Murugan, who has from an early date been identified with Karthikeya. Kannagi, the heroine of the Silappatikaram, was worshiped as Pathini by many Tamils, there were also many temples and devotees of Thirumaal, Siva, Ganapathi, and the other common Hindu deities. The year was made up of twelve months and every two months constituted a season, with the popularity of Mazhai vizhavu, traditionally commencement of Tamil year was clubbed on April 14, deviating from the astronomical date of vadavazhi vizhavu. Pongal, பொங்கல் the festival of harvest and spring, thanking Lord Indiran and Lord El and this day comes on April 14/15. Mazhai Vizhavu, aka Indhira Vizha, the festival for want of rain, celebrated for one month starting from the full moon in Ootrai சித்திரை. It is epitomised in the epic Cilapatikaram in detail, soornavai Vizha, the slaying of legendary Kadamba Asura king Surabadma, by Lord, comes on the sixth day after new moon in Itrai. It is sung about in Thirumurugatrupadai and Purananuru anthology, vaadai Vizha or Vadavazhi Vizha, the festival of welcoming the Lord Surya back to home, as He turns northward, celebrated on December 21/22. It is sung about in Akanauru anthology, aathi Irai min means the star of the God on the Bull

44.
Purananuru
–
The Purananuru is a Tamil poetic work in the Eṭṭuthokai, one of the eighteen melkanakku noolgal. It is a treatise on kingship, what a king should be, how he should act, how he should treat his subjects and how he should show his generosity. Sangam Collection is classified into Patiṉeṇmēlkaṇakku and Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku and each classification has eighteen collections, as an anthology of Tamil literature and it is dated between 1st century BCE and 5th century BCE. The Purananuru is one of the eight books in the anthology of Sangam literature. The secular anthology is entirely unique in Indian literature, which all religious texts during this era. The Purananuru contains 400 poems of varying lengths in the akaval meter, more than 150 poets wrote the poems. It is not known when or who collected these poems into these anthologies, the Purananuru is a source of information on the political and social history of prehistoric Tamil Nadu. There is information on the rulers who ruled the Tamil country before. Among the eight Sangam anthologies, Purananuru and Pathitrupathu are concerned with life outside family - kings, wars, greatness, generosity, ethics and philosophy. While Pathitrupathu is limited to the glory of Chera kings in 108 verses, of the original 400 poems, two have been lost, and some poems miss several lines. There are 400 poems in Purananuru including the invocation poem, poems 267 and 268 are lost and some of the poems exist only in fragment. Of the poets who wrote poems, there are men and women, kings. The oldest book of annotations found so far has annotations and commentary on the first 266 poems, the commentator Nachinarkiniyaar, of the eleventh – twelfth century Tamil Nadu, has written a complete commentatry on all the poems. There are 147 different names found from the colophons, however some of these could denote the same author. For example, Mangudi Kizhaar and Mangudi Maruthanaar could denote the same person, some of the authors of the poems, such as Kapilar and Nakkirar, have also written poems that are part of other anthologies. Some of the names of the authors, such as Irumpitarthalaiyaar and Kookaikozhiyaar and this suggests that those who compiled this anthology must have made up these names as the authors names must have been lost when these poems were collected. As its name suggests, Purananuru poems deal with the concepts of life such as war, politics, wealth. Some of the poems are in the form of elegies in tribute to a fallen hero and these poems exhibit outpourings of affection and emotions

45.
Manimekalai
–
Manimekalai, by the poet Chithalai Chathanar, is one of The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature according to later Tamil literary tradition. Manimekalai is a poem in 30 cantos and its story is a sequel to another of the Five Great Epics, Silappatikaram, and tells the story of the conversion from Jainism to Buddhism of the daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi. Although there is controversy about the exact date of this work. According to Hikosaka, Manimekalai was written between A. D.890 and 950, a based on linguistic assessment. The aim of the author, Seethalai Saathanar was to compare Buddhism favourably with the other prevailing religions in South India in order to propagate Buddhism and he criticizes Jainism, the chief opponent and competitor of Buddhism at the time. While exposing the weaknesses of the other contemporary Indian religions, he praises the Buddhas Teaching, as a continuation of Silappatikaram, this epic describes how Manimekalai, the beautiful daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi, follower of local deities later included in Hinduism, converts to Buddhism. According to the poem, Maṇimekalai studies the six systems of philosophy of Hinduism and other prevalent religions of the time and she is most impressed with Buddhism which treats everyone equal with loving kindness and fraternity. Later, upon hearing doctrinal expositions from the Buddhist teacher Bhikshu Aravaṇa Aḍigal, Manimekhalai fully practices the Buddhas teachings and attains the highest stage of Buddhist spiritual knowledge or attainment, i. e. she became an arhant. The Manimekhalai poem thus is an example of female spiritual empowerment within a culture wherein otherwise there were few options for women. Pandit Iyothee Thass revealed more about Manimekalai as Arachchelvi and documented original poems written by Seeththalai Saththanar, Swaminatha Iyer who allegedly left out some of the original poems. The epic gives much information on the history of Tamil Nadu, Buddhism and its place during that period, contemporary arts and culture, and the customs of the times. The exposition of the Buddhist doctrine in the poem deals elegantly with the Four Noble Truths, Dependent Origination, mind and Buddhist practices like virtue and non-violence. The story runs as follows, The dancer-courtesan Manimekalai is pursued by the amorous Cholan prince Udyakumāran, the sea goddess Manimegala Theivam or Maṇimekhalai Devī puts her to sleep and takes to the island Maṇipallavam. After waking up and wandering about the island Maṇimekalai comes across the Dharma-seat and those who worship it miraculously know their previous life. Manimekalai automatically worships it and recollects what had happened in her previous life, the goddess also predicts that Bhikshu Aravaṇa Aḍigal in her native town will teach her more. She then becomes a Buddhist nun or Bhikshuni and practices to rid herself from the bondage of birth and death, Manimekalai - The daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi, who was born with bravery and virtues. Udhayakumaran - The Chola King, who was mad in love with Manimekalai and he was a foolish king, who wanted things done only in the way he wanted them to be. He also had a thug life Sudhamadhi - Manimekalais most faithful, manimekala - The sea goddess who protects the heroine

46.
Hinduism
–
Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents